The present invention relates generally to front grilles on vehicles and more particularly to front grilles where the airflow through the grilles can be selectively blocked.
Grille airflow shutters have traditionally been used for the purpose of assuring that the airflow through the grille is reduced to an amount that minimizes the aerodynamic drag coefficient penalty for the vehicle. This is accomplished by managing airflow to the minimum required to meet air conditioning, powertrain cooling and under-hood thermal requirements. Adding this system to a vehicle, though, adds to the vehicle cost without removing other costs to the vehicle, so a cost penalty is incurred to improve the vehicle fuel economy, making grille airflow shutters less desirable to include on some vehicles.